Custom Wire and Cables in Robotics

Wire manufacturers constantly face the challenge of understanding and meeting the ever-changing performance requirements set forth by various industries.  Whenever you are dealing with a specific cabling solution, you will need the help of an expert to help determine whether you will need custom wire and cable for your application or if off the shelf cable is suitable.  If you are dealing with a complex industrial application and the stock wire and cable aren’t suitable to get things done, you will need to consider other options. 

You may need a company to design wire and cable that is tailored to meet your specific needs or you may need an existing item to be altered to better suit the needs of your industrial application.  Choosing the right cable is very critical for your projects.  If you need aerospace wire you wouldn’t use cable that was designed for medical devices.  Each industrial application has unique design constraints that need to be considered to achieve maximum efficiency. 

Communicating the requirements of your cable is key in getting the right design.  If you need cable that can perform well under both wet and dry conditions you will need to make sure this is addressed at the time of purchase.  Most companies are ready to supply large quantities of cable for general use and will manufacture custom cable only upon request. Custom cable is supplied to a wide variety of industries for tough and demanding applications.  These type of cables are usually used in high temperature environments as well as high voltage uses.  Many of these cables will be required to withstand abrasion and have strong properties so that they can be in contact with flames and not be damaged.

Custom military cable or any other type of cable should be engineered to your exact specifications, to ensure optimal performance.  Since the wires and cables will be built for a particular environment it will also ensure that it lasts longer in those conditions.  As a result, there will be significantly less system failures and you won’t need to worry about high replacement costs that would be associated with inadequate stock cable options. Teaming up with an experienced wire and cable manufacturing company is important so that you are guaranteed high quality and reliable cable. 

The aerospace industry has applications which can be very critical of weight

The aerospace industry has applications which can be very critical of weight; Such as, missiles, rockets and satellites. When looking for ways to cut down equipment, payload, or satellite weight, the cable can be the last thing considered. One way to accomplish weight reduction in aerospace cables is to use metal clad aramid fibers for the shield and braid material instead of the standard copper. Aracon® is one such material which provides exceptional EMI shielding, strength and flexibility. Typically Aracon® fibers can reduce weight 60% in the braid, an overall reduction in cable weight of 26% on the average. Aracon® is combined with DuPont Kevlar® to provide high tensile strength and excellent conductivity. The large number of fine threads and the tendency of yarn to flatten and spread give this material more shielding coverage than copper. In the first photo you can see the amount of fibers on the end of the braid

Benefits for switching from copper braid to Aracon include:

• Overall cable weight reduction
• Added flexibility
• Increased strength
• Withstands repetitive flexing
• Improved EMI shielding coverage

Aracon® fibers are manufactured by only one company Micro-coax Inc. The Aracon® braid can be purchased either with the braid only (sock) or having the braid manufactured onto cables by cable manufacturers such as Calmont Wire & Cable. Calmont has had great success manufacturing cables using Aracon® for the space and military related applications.

The cost of using this type of material is considerably more expensive than the standard copper braid. The cost savings for applications such as satellites where weight savings equate to rocket fuel cost, definitely makes it a value. Depending on your shielding requirements, Aracon® is available with several metallic coatings, thickness and fiber sizes to meet your resistance needs. Consult your cable manufacturer or Micro-Coax for options available to you.

If you would like to learn more about EMI shielding, Aracon® or similar materials contact Calmont today. Your comments are welcome and if you find this article useful, please share it.

ARACON® is a registered trademark of Micro-Coax, Inc. KEVLAR® is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

Requirements Information On Custom and Medical Cables

Custom cables are cables specially designed and manufactured to meet specific needs of clients. Companies that manufacture custom cables offer a whole variety of specialist services in diverse fields such as aerospace, telecommunications, radar, military, medical, industrial electronics, transportation, commercial, marine and many other fields. Custom cable manufacturers provide complete control from unique design to finished product, extremely competitive service and lead times that suit their clients. They also work with their clients to find a cost effective solution for all their clients’ custom cable needs.

High performance military wires and cables must meet the most stringent requirements for airframe defense wiring and other on-board applications. Military wire should have high temperature resistance, be small in dimension, be low weight, have low flame propagation and be mechanically tough and chemically resistant. Custom designed cables are used in radar systems, wire and special avionics cables, weapons systems cables, electronic surveillance and others. Custom military wire manufacturers develop, manufacture and market custom designed cables and cable assemblies for demanding military applications.

Aerospace cables are designed to offer optimal performance in the special conditions found in aircraft, where requirements commonly include high reliability, long lifetime, high strength, light weight and wider temperature ranges than standard telecommunications grade fiber/cable. Typical applications of aerospace cables are In-flight entertainment systems, In-flight networking systems, display systems, data transmission, communication systems, high-temperature environments and corrosive chemical environments.

Medical cables manufacturers provide medical wire for the demanding requirements of medical instrumentation. These cables provide consistent and reliable performance. The designs of medical cables utilize features that are important in health care applications. Flexibility and extended flex life, high strand counts, coolant tubes, flat cables and bonded-zip constructions, lead free insulations, coaxial composite cables, shielding and high strength conductors and shields are some of the important features provided by custom medical wire companies. Medical imaging, diagnostic instrumentation, dental x-ray machines, medical robotics, cardiac instrumentation and precision lasers are some of the fields where custom medical cables are used